The recent controversy over the allegations against Tim Ballard and the rather blunt statements made by Elder M. Russell Ballard and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have resulted in a lot of, to use a biblical phrase,”weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Calls for apologies have abounded, including the jaw dropping rhetoric from the junkyard dogs barking at church spokesmen and Elder Ballard, demanding that they repent. But there’s one more bit of reparation that bears mentioning.
Brothers and sisters, you owe me an apology. You owe so many very many of us a contrite and tearful plea for forgiveness.
Those of you who now speak of “putting Elder Ballard’s comments on a shelf” should think back on how you treated those of who suffered through the pain of Proposition 8 and other soul crushing disillusionments.
You judged us, you condemned us, and without a trace of love or compassion in your hearts you told us that unless we followed every word from our priesthood leadership, we were sinners and not of God.
To say that the shoe is on the other foot now doesn’t begin to cover it. We never threatened church leadership, we never doxxed church employees — we simply asked for answers as to whether or not “love one another” still applied.
Yet the very same church members who now are implying that church leadership is complicit in imaginary conspiracies espoused by an opportunistic lunatic, treated us as outcasts who were headed for outer darkness simply because we had a few questions.
We’ll take that apology at your earliest convenience.
Patrick Gibbs, West Valley City